Biking 'Round

Sorry I have not posted much this week.  Haven't had a lot to say.  Plus, I'm currently in B'ham, Bama, helping my dad in his recovery from knee replacement surgery*.  That's not exactly an excuse, but it does mean I'm away from my routines.

However, it does not mean I've stopped exercising. In fact, I hauled Fiona the Fuji bike down here to help me stay on triathlon training track and I've had a couple of great rides.

Given that I had not ridden a bike in months a week and a half ago, I'm trying to get back in the saddle and stay there.  My first ride last Tuesday was seven miles.  Then I did a nine mile ride on Thursday.  Yesterday, I upped it to 10.5 and then today I rode 12.

When you talk to a cyclist, 12 miles (or the 17 that I'll have to ride in the tri) is no big deal.  But still, it does take some effort to build back up your ability just to keep your butt in the saddle that long.  (Or your hands on the handlebars, because those things vibrate or something and make my hands feel numb when I'm riding. Does that happen to anyone else?) So I'm glad I'm making a concentrated effort to build up the mileage.

This is John showing me how to use the tire lever.*

But besides today's 12 miler, the best news I have in bikes is that I had a personal tutorial from a bike expert that was both informative and non-condescending.  See, with my dad having had surgery, people from his church have been calling asking if they can help with anything.  I had just arrived the other day and told him that I hoped to get some bike rides in while I was here, if my stupid tire would stop going flat.  Que a call from a church friend who rides.  He said, "Can I help you with anything while you're recovering from surgery?"  Que my dad saying, "Yes, my daughter is training for a triathlon but can't figure out why her tire keeps going flat. She took it to a bike shop, but they just filled it with air.  Can you maybe come check her tire sometime?"

This man, we'll call him John, came by the house that day when he got off of work.  He spent almost two hours teaching me how to change a tire and other basic maintenance things.  I took notes and pictures of what he was showing me, so that hopefully I'll be able to do it on my own next time.  He also brought me a saddle bag, CO2 canisters, a tire lever and spare tubes so that not only do I know how to change it, but I'll have all of the necessary pieces to do it next time, whether I'm at home or on the side of the road.  It was all amazing.

The kindness of this stranger (to me) has basically alleviated all of my fears of cycling and allowed me to enjoy the rides I've had this week.  B'ham is quite the hilly town, so I'm working the quads as I go up and enjoying the pure glee of going down.  Turns out, I really kind of love riding.  I don't feel like I have to give up when it gets hard, like I kind of do with running. Speaking of running, I have run once since I've been here and it was sucky. Guess I'm starting over with that again. Story of my life (smh).